Locomotive auxiliary port controlling means



Se t. 20, 1932. H. s. VINCENT 1,878,209

LOCOMOTIVE AUXILIARY PORT CONTROLLING MEANS Filed June 12, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR' ATTORNEYS Sept. 20, 1932. H s v c -r 1,878,209

LOCOMOTIVE AUXILIARY PORT CONTROLLING MEANS Filed June 12, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l NVENTOR W-I W ATTORNEYS Sept. 20, 1932.

' H. S. VINCENT LOCOMOTIVE AUXILIARY PORT CONTROLLING MEANS Filed June 12.

1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR W MM ATTORNEYS Fatented Sept. 20, Iss2 eases 7") HARRY S. VINCENT, OF RIDGEWOOD, NE'W JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T FRANKLIN RAILWAY SUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATEON OF DELAWARE tocoiv rorrvnfauxinrenx roar conrnonnine MEANS Applicatibn filed June s,

This invention relatesto means for controlling the auxiliary ports of a steam engine designed to operate at limited cut ofis. It is i particularly "applicable to locomotives in which connection it will be described hereinafter. V

One of the primary objects of the invention is the provision of means for closing the auxiliary ports of alocomotive adapted to to operate at limited cut oiis at times when the auxiliary ports are not required in driving the locomotive and thus prevent waste of steam. V More specifically the invention contem- 15 plates valve means interposed in the steam. passages leading from the auxiliary ports of the locomotive valve chests to the cylinders,

such valve means being subject to the control o of the exhaust pressure'in the exhaust passages from the main valves.

How the foregoing together with other objects and advantages are obtained will appear more clearly from a consideration of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings which illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention.

Of the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the cylinder and valve casting of the locomotivefwith my imm1 proved auxiliary port controlling mechanism applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a top view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a view taken-substantially as indi: cated by the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing a' cylinder, a main valve and the auxiliary port valve means applied thereto, all in section;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of theauxiliary port valve means; taken substantially on a horizontal plane; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal sectional View of the pilot mechanism which is influenced by the exhaust pressure to control the auxiliary port valve'means.

Referring now to the drawings, the refer.-

ence characters'G, 6 indicate the locomotive cylinders and 7, 7 indicate the locomotive valve chests. I

Theauxiliary port controlling mechanism comprises a valve indicated in general by the 50 reference numeral 8 mounted on each of the 1923. Q serial No. 284,834..

main locomotive valve chests 7. The passages or pipes 9 extend from the cylinders 6 to the valves 8 and communicate therethrough with, the auxiliary ports in the valve chests Q as will appear more fully hereinafter. invention further provides a controlling mechanism 10 for the valves 8 having a connection 11 to the interior of one of theexhaust cavities or passages in the cylinder casting.

The mechanism 10 controls the movements of the valves 8 by means of air pressure which near the ends thereof through the passages 17 the cylinder liner 18 being provided with corresponding openings 19. Still further, in ac- 'cordance with usual practice, the cylinder exhaust takes place through the chambers 241 in the ends of the chest 7 from whence it is passed to the exhaust passage or cavity in the cylinder casting. i i

It will also be noted from inspection of Fig. 3 that the auxiliary or starting ports 21 are arranged at the top of the valve and com- The municate with chambers 22 at the ends of .the

valve 8 through passages 23. A pair of valves 25 are arranged to move horizontally in the casing 26 of the valve 8. These Valves 25 are provided with pistons 27 oppositely disposed toward each other on the same axis in the central chamber 28 of the casing 26. A helical compression spring 29 is arranged between the pistons or plungers 27 to urge the valves apart and retain the bevelled ends 30 of the valves adjacent the seats 31. Ports 32 are provided in the seats 31 to afford communication between the chambers 22 and the cavities 33 in whichthe valves 25 are mounted.

The pipes 9 communicate with the cavities 33 at points adjacentto the valve seats 31 l the controlling mechanism 10 comprises a cylinder 35 in which the piston 36 is mount ed to reciprocate. The piston is urged upwardly by means of the compression spring 37 hearing against the bottom wall of the cylinder 35. The pipe or connection 11 which is tapped into the exhaust cavity of the cylinder casting communicates with the top of the cylinder 35 through the opening 38. An air valve chamber 39 is mounted below a lateral extension 40 of the cylinder 35. This air valve chamber 39 is subdivided into two chambers 41 and 42 by the wall 43 and it should be noted that the air supply pipe 12 communicates with the chamber 41 while the connections 13 to the valves 3 communicate with the chamber 42. An opening 44 is provided in the partition wall 43 be tween the chambers 41 and 42. A valve seat 45 is arranged around the opening 44 and is adapted to be controlled by the valve 47 which seats against the seat 45.

It should be noted that the valve stem 46 is arranged to move vertically and that the upper end of this valve stem is provided with an elongated opening 48 adapted to receive the pin 49. The pin 49 is carried by the forks 50 of the bifurcated lever 51, the latter being pivoted at the open end of the forks 50 on a pin mounted in lugs 52 on the inside of the casing 40. The opposite end of the lever 51 is extended through an aperture 53 in the piston 36 to be engaged by the bumps or projections 54 and 55 on the interior thereof.

It should also be noted that the upper wall of the air valve chamber 39 is provided with a seat 56 around the valve stem 46 and that the annular projection or valve 57 is adapted to seat at 56 when the air valve 4? is in its lower or open position. In order to provide for exhaust from the interior of the casing 40 l have provided openings 58 in the bottom wall of the piston 36 and an opening 59 in the bottom wall of the cylinder 35.

In order that the objects and advantages, as well as the operation of the control device of the present invention may appear more clearly, a somewhat limited description of the operation of the main valve mechanism and port arrangement shown'in Fig. 3 is included herebelow.

The position of the piston 14 and the valve 15 shown in Fig. 3 is that which those parts occupy 111st prior to the opening by the valve 15 of the main port 16 at the'left end of the valve structure. It should be noted that 1n this position, which is approximately the extreme left hand position for the piston 14, the piston 14 covers or closes the left hand auxiliary port opening 34. As the movement advances, the left hand port 16 is progressively opened by movement of the valve 15 to the left upon which steam will flow into the left hand endof the cylinder 6 to move the piston 14 toward the right. Note that the left hand auxiliary port'opening 34. remains closed until the piston has moved sufliciently to uncover it at which time steam will pass through the auxiliary port opening 21 to the chamber 22 in the valve mechanism 8. This pressure (in the chamber 22) issuflicient to force the valve 25 to the right compressing the spring 29 and admitting steam to the pipe 9 leading to the port 34. A little farther on in the cycle of movement, for example, at 50% of the stroke of the piston 14 to the right, the port 16 at the left of the valve will again be closed by movement of'the valve to the right.

(The point at which this will occur is depend ent, of course, upon the cut off at which the valve gear is set when in full gear position.) From this time on to the end of the stroke the piston is moved by the expansion of the steam already admitted to the cylinder plus the additional quantity of steam which will enter through the auxiliary port 34. The steam admitted through the auxiliary port will, of course, vary according to the speed at which the locomotive is running as the cross sectional area of this passage is relatively small. Thus if the engine isrunning at a very low speed, the length of time during which steam may enter through the auxiliary port 34 is so great that theefi'ect is substantially the same as it would be if the valve gear was arranged to provide no out off duringthe stroke when in full gear position.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that-if a locomotive set at 50% cut off stops i .when the piston 14 is in the middle of a stroke, the valve 15 will have' just closed the port 16. Thus at this point no steam can pass into the cylinder through the main port 16, and without the auxiliary ports the other cylinder or cylinders of the engine would have to bear the entire burden of starting. However, the auxiliary port '21 at this point will be open and steam may pass into the cylinder through the pipe 9 and the port 34 and in spite of the small cross section of the auxiliary port, sufiicient steam to start the locomotive will pass into the cylinder through the port 34. The auxiliary port's, therefore, taken together with my improved control mechanism 5 in reality const1tute a means for extending the out off or steam admission at starting.

WVh en the movement of the parts advances a little farther the main ports 16 will be opened and as the locomotive gathers speed the time during which steam may enter the cylinder through the relatively small auxiliary ports becomes shorter and they will, therefore, be of less eflect. 'However, an appreciable quantity of steam always enters the cylinder through the auxiliary ports (which, of

course, being at the inside of the main ports 16 are opened by the valve 15 before the main ports are opened) regardless of the speed at which the locomotive is moving although, of course, this amount will be greatest at very low speeds. Thus in the normal operation of a locomotive operating at limited cut offs, considerable excess steam is admitted to the cylinders shortly after starting and even when the locomotive has gained quite a little speed. The result is that considerable wastage of steam occurs on account of the admission of steam through the auxiliary ports to the cylinders when they should be Working by the expansion of the steam admitted through the main ports 16.

M r invention, therefore, contemplates a valve mechanism and a control therefor which cuts off or closes the auxiliary ports shortly.

In positions where the auxiliary ports 34 in the yhnder are not covered by the PIStOII 14 and the throttle is opened to admit steam to start the locomotive, the action will be as above outlined, that is, steam will pass into the auxiliary port 21 at the admission end and will pass to the chamber 22, force the valve 25 from its seat and admit steam to the cylinder through the pipe and the port 34. When the loccmotive gathers a little speed the exhaust impulses from the chambers 24 of the main valve will pass to the exhaust cavities in the cylinder casting and build up an exhaust pressure therein. This pressure is now communicated to the interior of the cylinder 35 through the pipe 11 and the opening 38 (see Fig. 5) and acts to depress the piston 36 against the sprin 37 and swing the lever 51 downwardly. The exhaust pressure necessary to depress the piston 36 can be of any desired value depending upon the strength of the spring 37, but, for convenience, I have found that an exhaust pressure in the neighborhood of 1 lb. gives very satisfactory operation. The valve stem 46 with its head 47 will then be moved downwardly to admit the air pressure in the chamber 41 (which is supplied through the pipe 12) to the chamber 42 from whence. it will pass through the connections 18 to the central chambers 28 of the valve mechanisms 8 on the main valve chests 7. This air pressure in the chamber 28 acting on the plunge-rs 27 is of suflicient force taken together with the action of the spring 29 to move the valves 25 outwardly and again bring their bevelled ends 30 adjacent the seats 31. Thus the flow through the auxiliary ports is cut off and no wastage of steam will occur.

When the locomotive throttle is again closed and the locomotive comesto rest, the exhaust pressure will, of course, be dissipated atwhich time the spring 37 in the control mechanism 10' will "force the piston 36 up' wardly and reseat the valve 47 to shutoff the supply of air to the valve mechanisms 8 on the steam chests. This action further raises theplug or valve 57 from its seat 56, thus allowing the air pressurein the valves 8 to exhaust through the connections 13, chamber 42, past the, valve 46 to the interiorof the casing from whence it exhausts to the atmosphere through the openings 53' and 58 in'the piston 36 and theopening 59 in the bottom of the cylinder 85.. I T

It will be apparent that the operation of the valves 25 is the samefor 'eachone of each pair mounted on the main valve chests. I

7 According to the foregoing, I have pro- I vvided an auxiliary port controlling mechanism which shuts off the supply of steam through such ports just afterthey have performed their use as a factor in starting the locomotive. Admission (and, therefore, waste of steam) attimes when the steam in the cylinders is working expansively is practically entirely eliminated. Furthermore, it is to be observed that the device is advantageous asit is operated by the exhaust pressure and is, therefore, responsive to the Working conditions of the locomotive.

WVhat I claim is 1. In a limited cut-ofi locomotive, the combination of a supplementary passage for supplying steam to start the locomotive, a valve controlling said passage, a motor device for closing said valve, and a pilot device sub ect to the control of the locomotive exhaust pressure for actuating said'motor device to close said valve when said exhaust pressure rises 3. In a limited cut-off locomotive, the com- 120 bination of a supplementary passage for supplying steam to start the locomotive, a valve controlling said passage, said valve being yieldingly held in closed position and being adapted to open under the pressure influence of-the steam passing through said passage, a motor device for closing said valve, and a pilot device subject to the control of the 1000- motive exhaust pressure for actuating said motor device to close said valve when said exhaust pressure rises above a predetermined point.

4. Ina limited cut-off locomotive, the combination of a supplementary'p'as'sage for supplyingsteam to start the locomotive, a valve controlling said passage, a fluid pressure actuated motor: device for closing said valve, and a pilot'device subject to the control of the locomotive exhaust pressure for actuating said motordevice to close said valve when said exhaust pressure'rises above a predetermined point. V

5. In a limited cut-off locomotive, the combination of asupplementary passage for supplying steam to start the locomotive, a piston valve for controlling said passage, said valve being yieldingly held in closed position and being adapted to open under the pressure influence of the steam passing through said passage,'means for applying fluid pressure to said piston'valve to cooperate with said yielding means in closing it against the pressure no i a predetermined point.

ofthe steam, and a pilot device subject to the control of the locomotive exhaust pressure for governing the application of said fluid pressurev so that said piston valve will be closed when the exhaust pressure rises above In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name. HARRY S. VINCENT. 

